Health Literacy and Information Sharing on Medicinal Herbs for COVID-19 Self-Care via Online Social Media among Thai People, 2022

Abstract

This research aimed to explore the health literacy situation and motivation for information sharing, as well as to survey on health literacy related to the use of medicinal herbs for COVID-19 self-care via online social media in Thailand. The mixed methods approach was applied which involved qualitative and quantitative data collection from 15 December 2021 through 1 June 2022 on a sample of respondents selected by using the purposive sampling method with screening questions from those who used social media of the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine during 2021–2022. The results revealed that, among the respondents: (1) health literacy on the use of medicinal herb knowledge obtained from Thai social media for COVID-19 self-care in 2022 was linked to the content of various media messages. In the past, Thai people were passive audience, but during this outbreak, they were more active, as COVID-19 was deemed as their immediate and serous problem. So they needed to seek knowledge and cooperate as informed or requested via the online media. (2) Overall, 92.5% had the highest level of motivation and information sharing – 85.5% with expectation for sharing with others at a high level and 85.8% with actual use of medicinal herbs for COVID-19 self-care at a high level; and 83.2% needed to be part of the community and 82.7% had a self-capacity perception at a high level. (3) Finally, concerning health literacy, 95.3% had access to basic health information for further analysis and making appropriate health decisions at the highest level, especially with regard to the people’s expected use of medicinal herbs. It is thus recommended that additional activities should be developed for further enhancing people’s health literacy in all dimensions and, for social policy-making, the medicinal herb knowledge should be included in school textbooks at all levels, and lifelong learning for creating sustainable health literacy in Thai society should be promoted.